Devil's Right Hand
by C.M. Kelly
Summary: Part 3: The search for Molly continues as a mysterious voicemail drives the siblings to Santa Cruz, California. There, they enlist the help of an old friend and take on the most dangerous being they have encountered thus far.
1. Chapter 1

"You've got to help me find her."

The voice echoing through the receiver was almost unrecognizable, years of practiced authority instantly worn away.

"Aw, man," a different voice sighed desperately, "I don't know where to start."

"I tracked her cell - she's heading west. Bank records show she used her card once, to take money from an ATM outside a bus station next town over. The last thing she looked up on her phone was the schedule, endpoint, California. She wouldn't go back to Stanford so soon. She's got to be coming to you… Please, man. I'm begging you."

"California's a big state, Jack. What makes you think she's heading here, to my place?"

"Because you're the only person she knows there anymore, Clu."

Jack heard his friend sigh again and pictured him running a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he'd witnessed Clu perform many times before.

"Jack," Clu's tone hushed, "Any other time, I'd help you out in a heartbeat, but it's my weekend with my son, and there's no sign she's in any danger here."

"Clu."

"Don't try and lay a guilt trip on me, man. I would do anything for Fi, you know that-"

"Anything?"

"I just said I-"

"Good, then you'll help me. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm in Cheyenne now, so, eighteen hours, tops."

Jack ended the call without another word. It was rare for him to admit he needed help, a trait he'd always bared even as a kid. Looking after his sister was _his_ responsibility and no one else's. He knew that. He was kicking himself for letting her slip through his fingers, but he needed some sort of assistance now. Maybe he didn't need Clu as much for the hunt as he did for support; someone to tell him it was okay that he'd lost sight of her, that things would be alright and she'd be safe and sound and that they would laugh about this someday.

He'd been asleep when she left, he concluded, after waking that morning to nothing more than rumpled sheets on the twin bed beside his. She'd run away, just like she did years ago when she cowardly dodged out of Colorado.

Their spat last night would hardly qualify as a significant argument in Jack's eyes, at least not one that would trigger this kind of reaction. Just more of the same: tension between siblings suddenly forced to be family again. Fiona was insisting that Jack didn't know her anymore, which was ridiculous. Of course he did. He was her big brother. He knew her better than anyone. That's why he should've expected this little stunt of hers.

Jack had the Mustang going as fast as he could get her, keeping his eyes peeled for speed traps as a series of worst-case-scenarios played out in his head. Though he believed Fiona could take care of herself, he didn't want her to have to. That was his job. His one job. And he couldn't afford to fail.


	2. Chapter 2

"I need you, Fiona. Get on the first bus to Santa Cruz. Don't wake Jack. If he comes with you, he will die on this hunt."

The message from her mother repeated over again in her head. There was no missed call, no trace of a phone number from which the message came. Just her mother's voice, saying _that_.

What did it mean? How did her mother even know they were together? And why would Fi be more likely to survive this situation than her brother?

She had endless questions accompanied by building doubt, but the magic words were said: "Jack will die." That's it. End of argument. Jack stays put.

And Fi goes here, to Santa Cruz, California.

Her nerves kicked in before the hydraulics could lower the bus to the ground. For one, she'd be finding something she was completely unprepared for, likely improperly armed and aloof. Secondly, there was the promise of seeing her mother again after three months of searching and years of silence. And lastly, was him. The one reason she had avoided coming back to this part of California for years.

Fi knew she was well-enough trained to defend herself on her own, but just as she did as a teen, she turned to him in Jack's absence. She might need the backup, after all. Who knows what she would be up against?

_But things are different now_, she reminded herself as she accepted her duffle bag and swung it over her shoulder mindlessly. Even if their actions those years back hadn't changed their relationship, time certainly would have. He was someone's dad now. He had more important things to worry about than ghost hunts and alternate dimensions.

Fi waved down a cab and read the address to the driver as if she didn't still have it memorized. Her stomach grew uneasy from a mixture of anxiety, a miniscule remainder of a years-old schoolgirl crush, and something else she couldn't quite place… guilt, perhaps… as the roads became increasingly familiar.

She would be the catalyst, the burning apartment, the tear in the fabric of his newfound, apple-pie life.

Fi took a deep breath as the cab eased itself against the curb, and she handed over the money she had nervously balled up in her palm during the drive.

Numb to the weight of her bag, she accomplished a steady stride onto Clu's porch. Nothing there had changed drastically, minus the lack of trash bags of beer cans that so often sat out in his college days.

She was really going to do this, ask the man who used to be her closest friend to leap back into a life of hunting, just to help her and her mother fight a threat she wasn't even sure yet existed.

She hovered a fist an inch from the door, stomach fluttering, brain silently wishing her mother would call again at that very second with another command, when the front door opened wide.

"Fi!"

Before she could react, she was being hugged tightly and lifted off the ground. Clu set her down and looked her over, his hands cupping her shoulders.

_This was a bad plan_, Fi thought, feeling her cheeks redden under his gaze. If only she could turn time back roughly five minutes and take off in the opposite direction without him ever knowing she was here.

She had imagined this going much differently, with more awkward glances and silences, peppered with apologies for not calling as often as the other should have. Instead, Clu was acting like no time had passed at all.

"This is such a great surprise! Come in," he grinned, holding the door ajar.

Fi began to enter when she noticed him reaching for his hair. She could still read him like a book; he was nervous, which could only mean one thing.

"Jack knows where I am, doesn't he?" Fi asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

Clu immediately broke eye contact and fumbled for a response, "Uh, he may have given me a head's up." He squinted as the words passed his lips, adding, "Sorry."

"How long until he gets here?"

"Probably a few more hours."

Fi frowned in response and dropped her bag to the floor.

_Shit. 'Jack will die.'_

She would have to work fast. This case needed to be solved before he arrived to keep him from danger. She just needed to find the words to convince Clu to help her.

"You really look great, Fi, considering," Clu attempted to shift the subject as the two took a seat on opposite ends of the couch.

"Considering what, huh?" she laughed.

"Considering everything that's happened, you know?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"I mean for being stuck with that goon of a brother twenty-four seven. Don't forget, he was my roommate once too," he smirked.

"So, Jack told you about Jesse too, didn't he?"

He adjusted his posture, becoming visibly uncomfortable, before letting his expression fall away.

"Yeah, Fi. He told me. Sorry, again, I-I don't really know what to say…" he explained, his voice fading to a whisper.

Fi never liked the tone Clu took when he was being serious. He'd sound as if he was on the verge of tears, which was such an unusual contrast from regular demeanor.

"Don't worry about it, I'm okay. All in a day's work, right?" she answered with a sarcastic laugh as she stood, taking a framed photo off the mantle. She analyzed its contents, noting how the fair-haired toddler was looking increasingly more like his father with age. "He's cute," she said with a soft smile, desperate to lighten the mood. Clu joined her side.

"He's just learning to talk, says 'Da-da' and everything. It's unreal. Kind of strange though, isn't it? Me with a kid?"

_It really is_, she wanted to say, but instead replied, "Where is the little guy now?"

"He'll be dropped off here in a couple days," Clu responded excitedly. "I get him every other weekend. Hey! I don't know how long you'll be in town for but, I'd love for you to finally see him."

"I've seen pictures," she said, holding up the photo for emphasis. "Jack has tons."

"Yeah, but you've never met him in person."

"I don't know. I'm not good with kids."

"What are you talking about, Fi? You're great with kids."

"Right, but I… don't feel like explaining. Clu, please, just let me bow out gracefully here."

"No need to explain yourself, Fi. I get it."

"Okay. Great. Thank you-"

"It would be too difficult for you to see me with my son, when we, I don't know… when, it could've been us."

She knew exactly what he was implying but chose to ignore it. She had no room on her plate for this right now. She turned away, feeling the threat of tears behind the bridge of her nose.

"Ha, if I had known I'd be such a bummer once I got here, I wouldn't have come," she laughed, holding them back.

Clu removed the photo from her hands and gently lifted her chin. "You can talk to me about _anything_. Just because we haven't seen each other in a while doesn't mean we have to act like strangers. Especially since we're far from it."

"God, I'm sorry I came here," she pushed past him with a sad smile and moved to collect her bag. "I have to be honest, Clu. I didn't come here to catch up, or for… _that_. I came here to ask you to come on a hunt with me, and I just can't do that to you now. You have this nice, simple life - no offense - and I can't drag you away from that. So, I'll be going. It was nice seeing you, but it's suddenly very apparent that this is something I have to face on my own."

She was almost out the door when Clu pulled himself from his stupor and stopped her.

"Wait, Fiona," he started, his eyes as soft and comforting as she'd ever seen them, "I'll do it."

"No, I can't let you. I thought I could but I can't-"

"That's why you came here. I'm telling you I'll help you. I'm in. As long as we're back by Saturday morning."

"I didn't even tell you what the hunt is… and besides, now that Jack's on his way, I won't need you."

"If Jack could have helped you, why'd you bail on him? You must have left him behind for a reason."

Fi sighed. He'd caught her.

"Because he'll die if he helps me," she whispered.

Clu's eyed widened. "He'll _die_? Fi, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "All I've got is a phantom voicemail from my Mom saying she needs me and that Jack will die if I bring him along."

"Wow. Um… _wow_. Uh, okay then. What should I do? Should I call Jack? Tell him to stop where he is and that we'll meet up with him later?"

"Clu, you know my brother as well as I do. Nothing's going to stop him from coming here."

"Hm… well, we've got two hours 'til he gets here. Let's find your mom and finish this hunt before then."

Fi mustered a smile, feeling increasingly like her old self.

"You're that good now, right?" Clu added with a grin.

"For Jack's sake, I better be."

"Okay then. Let's find your mom."


	3. Chapter 3

Jack checked the clock on his cell phone for the umpteenth time. He couldn't take the anticipation of the drive any longer. Clu hadn't called, so that must mean Fi never showed up at his place as Jack predicted her to do.

_Son of a bitch, where could she have gone?_

He would continue towards Santa Cruz, meet up with Clu, and they would find her together. He was almost there. Things would be alright.

His internal confidence boost was broken by an unfamiliar jingle coming from his phone. A message alert flashed on the screen.

"New voicemail?" he mumbled aloud and pressed the phone to his ear. _It never even rang, how can there be a voicemail?_

"Jack," a voice began.

"Mom?" he said loud enough for Fi to hear in the passenger seat, forgetting for a split second that she wasn't there.

"Jack, please answer. It's Fiona, she's- they don't know if she's going to make it. Please hurry. Get Clu, he'll take you to us. I love you, Jack."

He kept the phone to his ear long after the voicemail ceased to play, astonished. Fi was with their mother? She'd found her? Why didn't she call? Why didn't Clu call?

His mind raced too quickly and suddenly his fingers were scrolling through his call list. There wasn't any trace of a missed call. He pulled up his contact list and hit send on his mother's name, grimaced when the same straight-to-voicemail message played, just as it had for months now, and pressed the Mustang's gas pedal to the floor.

No one was dying today. Not Fi, not his Mom… maybe Clu for not picking up the damn phone like he was supposed to. The Mustang growled loudly as though she knew, Santa Cruz needed to become a heck of a lot closer than two hours away.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Thanks for reading :)**_

* * *

><p>Fi laced her fingers around a stained mug of coffee, cancelling out the majority of its faded USC logo with her hands. She took a cautious sip and pulled away giggling.<p>

"Did you spike this?"

"You looked like you could use a drink," Clu smirked, never turning away from the computer screen illuminating his face. "It's just a little Kahlua, don't be a pansy."

"Shut up," she grinned and wrapped an arm around the back of the computer chair.

"Alright, this is the article I was thinking of," he began, pausing when he noticed Fi's face so close to his. He held his gaze for a beat too long and snapped his pupils back to the computer. "Um, yeah, here it is, right at the bottom."

He got up from his seat and motioned for Fi to sit.

"Second missing student turns up unharmed," she mumbled, paraphrasing aloud to herself. "Doesn't remember anything about where she was… thinks she was knocked unconscious."

"Keep going, it's the last part that made me think this was your kind of thing."

"Came to in an abandoned warehouse … after being missing for almost _six weeks_?"

"She was blacked out for six whole weeks," he echoed. "Now scroll down."

"Authorities had posted her picture online … got reports of sightings as far away as Massachusetts and Texas … all within a span of a couple days. Girl's quite the traveler. Must have a common face."

"And common fashion sense," Clu pointed, indicating the security still-frame on the screen.

"Same clothes."

"Weird, right?"

"I don't know, Clu. Maybe these pictures really are all her. Maybe she went on a bender," Fi joked.

"Or maybe, she was cloned!" Clu suggested enthusiastically.

Fi started to laugh in response when her smile slid away.

"What is it? Am I right?" Clu asked, noticing the sudden worry on her face.

"What if she doesn't remember because she was possessed?"

"Possessed? Like The Exorcist?" he replied, taking on her solemn tone. "Are we dealing with a demon here?"

"It would make sense. My mom has been hunting just one thing these past months. She's been throwing all the other stuff to me and Jack."

"Aw man. She's been hunting a demon?"

"She's hunting _the_ demon."

"Shit, Fi! The demon that _what_?" Clu flinched as he spoke.

"The demon that killed my dad."

"Wait," he squinted, "I thought your dad died in a car crash?"

"No," she answered sternly, getting up from her seat to face him. "He died in my nursery. I remember seeing his face."

"But what about the accident? My dad saw the firemen pull him from his car."

"Oh yeah?" she shot back, "If your dad's so sure of what he saw, ask him to explain the fire at my house the night my dad died."

"Okay," he said flatly after a short pause.

"_Okay_?" Fi repeated, standing down with a light laugh.

"Well, yeah. You sound so sure about it. I'm not here to argue. After all, you're the expert on this weird stuff."

"Will you stop saying that? I'm cursed, not educated."

"So what's our next move? Do we find this girl?"

"No, not without my mom. For all we know she could be faking this story and is still possessed. I think we should start at the warehouse where she came to. Demons leave signs, traces of their presence. If my theory is right, that should be the place where we get our proof. Can you take me to it?"

"Sure, I go by it on my way to wo-"

"Great," Fi interjected, dumping the rest of her coffee down the sink. "Grab your keys."


	5. Chapter 5

"What if your mom's at the warehouse? What would you say?" Clu asked, fastening his seat-belt.

"God, I don't even know. I'm trying not to set my hopes too high."

"Are you going to bring up the whole not-telling-you-about-being-a-hunter thing?"

Fi shrugged.

"I always plan what I'm gonna say in advance, even if I'm not sure I'll ever get to say it," Clu explained, his grip tightening up on the steering wheel. "I don't like to be caught off guard."

"Hm, that explains why you've been so collected despite me showing up here out of the blue."

"How else would it be?" he asked genuinely.

"Different. Definitely, different," she laughed.

"What do you mean? Like, awkward?" he responded, taking on her light tone.

"Yeah, maybe."

A moment passed without a word. Fi let the smile fade from her face and fixed her eyes on the passing scenery.

"I never blamed you for what happened," Clu broke in, "just so you know."

"Yeah, Clu. I know."

"So why do you sound so guilty?"

Clu analyzed her solemn expression as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, keeping her head turned away from him.

"It was wrong, what I did to you," she confessed into the window. "I'm still sorry about it."

"You fell in love, Fi. No need to apologize. Besides, it's not like we were dating or anything."

"Right."

There was a long pause as Clu rolled the car to a stop.

"Well, if it makes any difference," Fi started to say.

"There it is," Clu interrupted, nodding toward an old cement building across the road.

"Check out that second story window."

"What's with that glow?"

"Looks like someone has candles burning."

"Old abandoned warehouse? Not the most romantic place for a candle-lit dinner," he joked.

"Okay, showtime."

"Wait! Don't we need some sort of weapon? Salt or something?"

Fi laughed, amused.

"What?"

"We are _way_ past that, Clu."

"Oh. Okay, so what do we need. Guns?"

"Guns we've got," Fi grinned, removing her handgun from her belt.

"Whoa!" Clu proclaimed, instinctively raising his palms. "Have you had that thing on you this whole time?"

"It won't do us much good against a demon though. Hand me my bag from the backseat?"

"What do you have in there that's more powerful than a gun?"

"For one, a rosary, in case I run out of holy water."

"Cool. What do I get to carry?"

"Oh, no, no. You're staying here."

"No way! I've come this far. I want to see you in action!"

"Absolutely not. If this thing is a danger to Jack, I'm sure as hell not letting you near it either."

"But, Fi!"

"I'll be right back. I'm pretty sure there's nothing here but I'm not taking any chances."

"No. I'm not letting you go in there alone."

"Clu," Fi said quietly. "Think of your son."

"Think of your Mom! Think of Jack!"

Fi cleared her throat. "I am."

She took Clu's sudden silence as her cue to exit the car. She heard the sound of the driver's door slam shut after hers, and she turned back just long enough to see Clu sling her bag over his shoulder and jog towards her.

"I'm not letting you go in there alone," he repeated.

With little more than a frustrated exhalation of breath, Fi motioned for him to stay behind her.

* * *

><p>The two maneuvered through the building's entrance with cat-like caution. The warehouse provided limited visibility, making it difficult for them to climb the stairs without stumbling over the broken chairs and garbage that riddled the halls. The only light came from the candles, which threw strange shapes upon the walls. Fi stopped suddenly, almost causing Clu to topple over her.<p>

"What the hell…?"

"What the…" Clu echoed. "What is that? It looks like some kind of twisted vigil."

The source of the light they had observed from outside came from six candles, arranged in a circular formation in the center of the room. Fi crouched down to get a closer look, pressing a finger into the pool of wax on the floor.

"These must have been burning all day," she stated, taking one of the candles in her hand. She hovered it near every other object she could find in the room.

"What are you looking for?" Clu asked, his voice shaky.

"Traces of sulfur. If a demon made this circle, it would have left sulfur around somewhere."

"Why?"

"Beats me. Seems like they can't help it. It falls off them like strands of hair."

"Demon DNA."

"Yeah, something like that."

Fi swung the candle back around to its original place on the floor and suddenly noticed a red ring painted in the middle of the circle. It was drawn so faintly it practically blended right into the wood grain.

"There's something drawn on the ground around it," she announced. "Stay over there until I can get a better look at it."

Clu gladly obliged and leaned into a spot against the wall.

"Be careful, Fi. For all we know there could be some devil-worshipping hobos around here."

She kneeled to the ground and traced the outline of the ring with her fingertip.

"This looks familiar. I've seen this symbol before."

"What's it mean?" Clu asked, not moving from his place on the wall.

"I remember posting an image similar to this on my website. I think it's a kind of devil's trap."

"Okay, so if that's supposed to be a trap, where's the demon?"

"Could have been precautionary."

"Fi, I know I said I want to be here with you and everything but, uh, this is getting a little too weird for me. Who lit those candles? Who drew that trap?"

Fi stood slowly, pushing herself up by her knees.

"Mom?" she let out, almost silently at first. She called out again, a little louder this time, "Mom? Are you here? Is this what you wanted me to find?"

She didn't move, just listened for any sign that they weren't alone.

"Mrs. P?" Clu chimed in. He interlocked his fingers and flattened his palms above his head. "Fi, this doesn't feel right."

"She isn't here. No one's here. Whoever did this is long gone."

"That's pretty careless of them to leave those candles burning. This whole place could've gone up."

"They probably didn't have a choice."

"What are they, dead?" Clu questioned.

Fi ignored his comment. She was actually hoping it really was her mother who created the trap, and if that was the case she needed her to be alive. She had to be. Fi hadn't even got to talk to her yet.

"Let's think about this," she thought aloud. "We have a devil's trap but no evidence a demon was ever here. There's nothing in this building but a bunch of junk. What could my mom have needed me for?"

Clu shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm starting to think I came all this way for nothing."

She walked the edge of the circle another time, discouraged.

"I really thought this was going to be something big."

"Maybe there's something else in Santa Cruz?" Clu suggested.

"If only I had my mom's book," she let out. "Maybe there's a hint in there I missed."

She scanned the room from the inside the circle, stopping once she realized that Clu's eyes were pinned to a spot on the floorboards between her feet.

"What is it?" she asked, taking a step back.

"It looks like there's something under the floor."

Fi reached back and twisted a rosary around her wrist, then tucked her gun back into her belt. There was a cut in the floorboards about a foot wide. A corner of the piece was sticking up, ever so slightly.

She quickly dug into her boot for her knife. Carefully, she wedged the floorboard up and extracted the loose portion. She shot Clu a worried glance before reaching into the hole beneath the floor.

Clu made a noise like he was witnessing someone touch a hot stove.

"A little help?" Fi said sarcastically.

She was interrupted by the sudden robotic melody that overtook the small room.

"Ah!" Clu screamed before realizing it was his cell phone. He fumbled for it in his jacket pocket. "Gah, uh, damn it. Stop ringing."

Fi retracted her hand and made her way towards him.

"It's Jack," he said, finally silencing the ring tone. "What do I say?"

"Give me that," Fi answered, removing the phone from his hand. She took a deep breath, adding, "He's gonna be pissed."


	6. Chapter 6

"Clu, man, why the hell didn't you tell me she was with you?" Jack demanded as soon as Fi accepted the call.

"Jack, it's me."

"Fiona? You're okay! Holy _shit_ are you in trouble."

"I know, and I'm working on a heart-wrenching apology, but right now I need you to do me a favor."

"Ha!" Jack scoffed. "A favor? You know what I could've done to my car driving like I have been these past eighteen hours?"

"Screw the car, Jack. This is important."

"I'll ignore that blasphemy long enough to hear you out. First of all, where are you?"

"I can't tell you. I need to tie this case up before you get-"

"Put Clu on the phone."

"No! I need to tie this up before you get here or something really bad could happen so just, do what I ask, okay?"

"Depends. What is it?"

"I need you to look in Mom's book. Has she ever mentioned hunting in Santa Cruz before?"

"I already checked the book as soon as I saw that's where you were heading."

"Alright, and?"

"And, I'll tell you what it says if you tell me where you are."

"In a warehouse, about twenty minutes west of the highway. Now what's it say?"

"What street?"

"I don't know!" Fi puffed in frustration.

"Clu, what's the street?" he asked loudly.

"Tell him Carter," he heard Clu say in the background.

"Carter. Got it," Jack repeated back. "Okay then, looks like I have a few minutes to kill."

"The book, Jack."

"Oh, right," he teased.

Jack flipped through the pages of the book laying flat on his passenger seat, stopping when he found the page he had dog-eared earlier that day.

"The only thing I found was something about a horse. I have to admit, it seemed a little too ordinary compared to what else is in here."

"Isn't there something in the Bible about horsemen?" he overheard Clu whisper near the receiver.

"Here it is," Jack read aloud, stopping at a traffic light. "'With Clu in Santa Cruz, Irene was overjoyed to book a show nearby. I was elated too. This time, I'm not leaving California without the colt.'"

The traffic light changed and Jack put the book back on the car seat.

"She goes on to talk about being heartbroken about leaving without it twice before," he continued. "I just can't figure out what the hell she meant. Hey, didn't she and Dad go horseback riding through the vineyards here once? …Hello, Fi? You still there?"

"Jack," she nearly stuttered. "The Colt's a gun. It's a legend. Lore says it's the one thing that can kill a demon. Not just send it back to Hell, but end it."

Jack was stunned into silence. The siblings listened to the white noise on either end of the receiver for a moment.

"Jack-" Fi started to say.

"Fi. Wait for me to get there. Whatever you're planning on doing, wait for me to get to you and we will find this gun together. Do you hear me?"

"I can't do that, Jack. Mom said-"

"Damn it, Fiona! Clu! Don't let her move," he commanded.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Fi said quietly, and the call was ended.

"Son of a bitch!" Jack spat while giving a push to the steering wheel, and pressed the accelerator to the floor.

* * *

><p>Fi shoved the cell phone into Clu's palm and darted back to the hole in the floor. She struggled for a moment, pulling on something with both hands. She toppled back with a thump, hugging a pine box sized in the same dimensions as the missing piece of floorboard.<p>

"Fi, is that it? Is that the gun?" Clu asked excitedly. "Bring it over here, I want to see it!"

Fi hardly heard him. She was too busy working away at the box with her knife. No matter how hard she pulled at the lid, it wouldn't budge. The thing appeared to be nailed on.

"Do you have anything back at your place that will open this?" she questioned, finally acknowledging the other person in the room.

Clu nodded eagerly in response.

"Okay then, let's go. Text Jack and let him know that's where we'll be. We should all be safe there. He's got to see this."

Fi took an extended step over the candles, too anxious to think twice about the atypical convenience of the latest series of events.

"Wait!" she heard Clu say from somewhere behind her. She was moving so quickly she was already back at the stairs.

Before she could look back in his direction, she was lifted off the ground and flung twenty feet in the opposite direction. The brunt of the impact was on her tailbone.

She seethed in pain, pressing a hand to her back while keeping a firm hold on the pine box with the other.

"Fi, what's happening?" she heard Clu shout, followed by a cry of pain.

The room began to blur and she could just barely make out a figure standing beside the candles, coming closer.

"Clu?" she tried to call out, but she couldn't find her voice. The wind had been knocked out of her. She made choking noises and held her side, desperate for a moment to recover though she knew she wouldn't get one. She squeezed her eyelids together, straining to make out the shape, when something tangled her hair in its fist and slammed her head into the floorboards. Her vision went black.


	7. Chapter 7

Fi came to with Clu shivering at her side. She fought to gain her bearings.

She attempted to move but found her arms to be bound behind her and around one of the discarded chairs from the stairwell. The back of her skull burned hot with pain and the room wouldn't stop spinning. Her torso throbbed so badly it made her nauseous.

"Clu, are you with me?" she mumbled. She could feel his leg shaking against hers.

"Aw man, Fi. I think it broke my arm," he cried. "Everything hurts so bad."

"Hang in there. My Mom must know where we are. And Jack's on his way. Did you get a look at who did this to us?"

"No," he winced. "I didn't see anyone at all."

Fi scanned the room for an object that could free them of their restraints, finding that anything which could have been of help to be too far out of reach.

"That can't be good," she heard Clu say, as she followed his eyes to the circle of candles, now flickering violently and out of sync.

"Listen to me. It's going to be okay, alright?"

"Fi, if we're going to die there's something I have to tell you."

"Now's no time for goodbyes, Clu. Just stay with me."

"No, Fi! I, I can't... I need to tell you this, please," he spat.

_ Please, not now, Clu,_ she pleaded to herself. _Don't say something you're going to regret once we make it out of here._

"I've known you as long as I can remember, and I've been waiting years to finally tell you-"

Fi shut her eyes like that would make this moment any less surreal.

She was suddenly overcome with an eerie stillness that filled the room. She reopened her eyes to find the candles had stopped flickering. And Clu was standing up from his seat, grinning. He pulled his arms from behind his back as if they were never restrained, and waved his fingers as though he'd just pulled off some sort of magic trick.

Fi stared up at him in sheer confusion, but when they locked eyes she found that his face had contorted into someone she no longer recognized. His glare darkened and his smile curled up on either side, forcing his cheeks to regress back into his hair line.

"To tell you," he continued in a much harsher tone, "that you're nothing more than a cheap lay, you pathetic bitch."

He moved at her forcefully and grabbed her face with his thumb and middle finger. With his other hand, he reached behind his back and pressed a cool piece of metal to Fi's cheek.

Fi jerked her head away just enough to catch a glimpse of what it was. She made out the unusual engraving on the antique barrel, and instantly recognized the gun to be the Colt.

"Oops!" Clu taunted her, grinning eerily. "You lost your new toy."

"Clu, why are you doing this? Whatever kind of trouble you're in-"

"Sh," he whispered slowly, running his finger along the edges of the gun. He held it up and observed it from all sides. Fi could make out her reflection in the metal. Her face was already swollen from where she'd been knocked out. "Oh, what trouble I'm in..." he sang, "Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand."

Clu opened a palm and the empty chair beside Fi suddenly dragged itself across the floor. He spun it around and took a seat across from her, still smiling.

"You're a demon," she spat.

He brought his face closer to hers, and with a blink, he flashed his eyes from blue to black, and back again. He leaned in and kissed her slowly, letting out a sadistic laugh when she attempted to move away.

"What's wrong, Fi?" he mocked. "Isn't this the real reason you came to California?"

"Let him go. He's not a part of this."

"I owe you for this gun, Fiona," he responded, ignoring her comments and pulling the Colt up to her face.

"Anyone could have gotten that gun out of the devil's trap for you. Why me?"

"Two birds, I guess. It had to be you, Fi. And I've been looking for you for a long time. Now that I have you, I'm going to tear you limb from limb. And Clu here has a front row seat to the show. He's going to snap your bones with his own two hands."

"Clu, if you can hear me, hang in there. I'm going to save you, I promise," she rambled, locking her eyes on his.

"How adorable," he teased.

"Listen, you asshole. My mother is somewhere nearby. She's going to find me, and if you know anything about my family, you know she's going to kill you."

"You're right. If Molly was here she'd really tear me a new one. Luckily for me, that's not the case."

"It will be. She's on her way right now."

"Not unless she's on the express train from Pagosa Springs, Colorado."

"She's- Colorado? We were just there-"

"I know! Can you believe it? You were so close!" he taunted. "You _almost_ had her, which as you understand, can't happen."

"You? You made that call didn't you?" Fi hissed, keeping the fear out of her voice. "Were you lying about Jack coming here too?" she added when he didn't answer her.

"Oh no, he'll be here. And I meant what I said about him dying if he did. It's all a part of the master plan. I just needed you two apart long enough for me to pick you off one by one."

Fi fought against her restraints in anger, not caring about the rope burns she was digging into her wrists. "You're not going to get near him, you son of a bitch. I'm going to rip you apart."

"Not without bruising this fine packaging."

Clu came towards her again. He slid a hand under her pant-leg and into her boot. He retracted his arm with her knife in hand, and ran the blade against her cheek.

Fi felt a stinging beneath her eye, then the trickle of blood. To her horror, Clu caught it with his fingers and took a taste, leaving a bit on his lips and teeth. Her stomach churned at the unusual contortions the creature performed with Clu's features.

"He's screaming in here, Fiona. He knows you can't really help him."

"I'm not listening, Clu. Don't you worry," she said bravely, fighting off tears.

"You know, I have all his thoughts in here with me. Do you want to know what he really thinks of you?"

Fi clenched her jaw to prevent her lips from quivering.

"He's really enjoying seeing you in pain like this. I didn't think he'd have it in him, but he's cheering me on. He says he wants you to feel the same hurt he felt every time you would pop in for a weekend and leave him again."

"Save it."

"You know, he blames you for ruining him. You disappeared, left him here in Santa Cruz, banging bimbos who couldn't tell the difference between birth control and Budweiser, and look what it got him!"

"Clu loves his son. Caleb means the world to him," she forced out.

"This Caleb?" he demon asked, sliding open Clu's phone to reveal its background image. He opened his palm again and the phone seemingly flung itself into the wall, shattering its screen onto the floor below.

A lump grew in her throat, making it a task to speak.

"Oh please," Clu continued, once again twisting her hair into his fist. He jerked her head back, pressing his mouth to her ear. "He'd trade that little shit in a second for the life he'd imagined with you."

Fi ignored the piercing pain overtaking her body and focused on keeping a stony appearance.

"Pretty ambitious considering I was just a cheap lay," she cracked.

"Don't flatter yourself, Fi," Clu sneered, rolling back her shirt and slicing along her side. She grit her teeth inside her mouth and groaned. "It took him many years to convince himself that's all you are, but back before you started giving it up to that chump at Stanford, Clu was thinking up names for your kids as he fell asleep at night."

"Go to Hell."

Clu pulled an arm back and slapped her hard across the face. Her eyes went wild, but there was nothing she could do to stop him.

"His favorite was Colleen for a little girl," he went on deviously, grazing the tip of the blade in a serpentine pattern up her chest. "A combination of Colin and Kathleen in honor of your grandparents. How sweet. He thought he was so clever, really. He was so proud of himself, he almost called."

"Stop it."

"But of course, the kids would have to come after the wedding. That way he could still play it cool around Jack. After all, what would your big brother do if he found out the truth about you two? Very naughty."

Fiona dug her restraints deeper into her arms, trying to work away at the ropes using the chair's back.

"He'll be here soon," Clu went on, taking a firm grasp around her neck. "Maybe he could do all the dirty work for me. All I need to do is describe to him how nice it felt to have your legs wrapped around my back."


	8. Chapter 8

"You won't have time," Fi grumbled through rationed breaths. "If you're going to kill me you better get it over with, because once Jack gets here, you're a goner."

"Is that so?" he smirked.

The snarl disappeared off Clu's face with the click of a gun's hammer.

"Might want to reconsider your game plan, buddy," Jack smirked from behind his handgun, drawn at the thing possessing Clu. "Guess your time management skills are a little rusty."

"Well, well. Party's here," he said bitterly, letting go of Fi's neck and straightening his posture to face Jack.

"Back away from her or I'll shoot. I don't care whose body you're in, I will shoot you dead if you lay another finger on my sister."

"That's cold, Jack. Some friend you are."

Without hesitation, Jack fired a round into Clu's shoulder.

"Don't hurt him!" Fi cried out weakly.

"Very funny, Jack," the demon hissed, hardly fazed by the shot. "Sure, you've got a gun, but not _this_ gun."

Clu twirled the Colt in his hand. He threw Fi's knife down hard into the floor, causing it to stand up with a cartoonish vibration. With a growl, he raised his palm and sent Jack soaring into the opposite wall.

"Jack!" Fi cried.

Jack groaned from his place on the floor, pulling his body along its wooden surface with his elbows.

Clu pushed the chamber of the gun to the side with his thumb and counted the bullets.

"More than enough," he commented with a smile. "I've been searching for something worth wasting these on."

He winked in Fi's direction and aimed the gun narrowly at Jack, who was still attempting to lift his body off the ground.

"No, no, no," Fi mumbled.

The demon took advantage of her vulnerability and swung the gun around to her.

"I really overestimated you two. I was told it would be quite the challenge taking you on together. But _this_, this is almost funny."

He pressed the gun up to her forehead just as Jack got on his feet.

"Jack! The devil's trap!" she shouted from under the barrel of the gun. Each syllable burned hot pain into her ribs.

"Na-uh-uh," he hummed, sending Jack against the wall once again, pinning him against it. Jack balled his fists and arched his back as hard as he could but couldn't move.

Clu returned his focus to Fi and tightened his finger around the trigger.

The silver ring she wore around her thumb reflected a dim glow.

Just as the bullet entered the chamber, Fi finally managed to rock herself to the side, bringing her and the chair crashing to the ground. The shot narrowly missed her head and cut through her hair. Her fall dismantled her restraints, and she mustered just enough strength to take a swing at Clu's face.

On the opposite side of the room, Jack fell to the floor, and no sooner than he was back on his feet, he charged at the demon and tackled him to the ground. Not letting up, he ripped the Colt from his hand and drove the butt of the gun into Clu's skull, knocking him out.

Jack stood up, hovering over him with the Colt tightly in his grip, and debated his next move.

"Don't," Fi heaved.

"This could be the demon," Jack answered without shifting his eyes off of Clu.

"This low level son of a bitch?" she joked. "No way."

"It's still one less hell-spawn we've got to hunt," he said, aiming the gun downward.

"True, but it'd be one less friend too," Fi reminded him between breaths, "and we don't have many of those left nowadays."

Jack kept the gun locked on his target for another beat. He exhaled and broke his gaze to locate the red circle drawn on the ground, then dragged Clu's body inside it. Once he was sure there were no broken lines in the structure of the trap, he made his way to Fi.

Extending an arm to help her up, he noticed the rope burns around her wrists and mentally scolded himself for not arriving sooner.

He moved fast to catch her as she wavered and slumped over into him. The left side of her face was so badly swollen her eye could barely open. He glared at Clu, face-down on the ground inside the circle.

Possessed or not, it was his fist imprinted upon his baby sister's face.

Jack let Fi use him as a crutch while he flipped through his mother's lyric book. He grunted in frustration as he struggled to find a specific page.

"What are you looking for?" Fi pried, hardly conscious.

"An incantation. It's supposed to repel a demon from the body without harming the host."

Fi paused. "Is it Gaelic?"

"Pretty sure, yeah. Have you seen it in here?"

"I know it by heart."

Jack looked at her quizzically. "Banish a lot of demons up at Stanford?"

"I memorized it. Back when I was in high school, from that book of spells. Figured it might come in handy, someday."

"Hm, well look at that."

Fi ran a finger along her swollen lip. "Jack, how'd you know Clu was possessed? You never even saw his eyes."

"I don't know. I just knew that couldn't have been him."

"How did this happen? One minute he was Clu, the next he was _that_."

"Okay, enough talking," Jack quickly shifted gears to hinder Fi's approaching guilt. "Let's get this demonic son of a bitch out of my best friend."

He walked the edge of the devil's trap as Fi began reciting the incantation.

"Táimid ag tiomáint tú uainn, cé is féidir leat a bheith-"

With a inhuman twist of his torso, Clu shot up from his slumped position. He snarled and darted his now entirely black eyes in her direction.

"You whore witch!" he seethed. "An exorcism? You think that really works on something like me?"

"We'll just have to wait and see now, won't we?" Jack smirked. "Keep going, Fi."

Clu growled in pain as Fi continued to chant between breaths, "Biotáille neamhghlan, gach comhacht diabhalta-"

"There will be more like me."

"Can't wait to meet 'em," Jack joked, ignoring him.

Fi tried to speed her pace, getting louder as the incantation neared its end.

"Gach ionróirí ifreanda, gach gasra droch, tionóil agus sects," she hissed in pain but pushed herself to keeping going. "Amhlaidh, gasra droch,-"

"I'll be sure to tell your Daddy you said hello, Fiona."

Fi glared at him, using all her remaining energy to shout the last few words.

"Imigh chuirimid. Ar fáil. Duit."

Clu's body went stiff. His neck rolled back and he let out a chilling scream, black smoke propelling from his throat and into the ceiling. He went silent and fell back onto the floor, Fi collapsing beside him.


	9. Chapter 9

Jack tended to Fi first. She appeared stunned, holding herself up with her hands, her eyes pinned on Clu.

"Jack, is he okay?" she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Jack hesitantly took a knee inside the circle and pushed Clu onto his back with the barrel of the Colt. No response.

"Jack. What if he's-"

"Clu? Clu, answer me." Still nothing. "Damn it, man. How'd you let this happen to you?"

Jack patted Clu's pockets, seeking out his car keys.

"Fiona, stay here," he said, handing her the gun. "Keep this on him. I'm going to pull his car around the corner in case anyone reported those shots. Then we can take off."

Fi nodded and waited for her brother to leave the room. Once she saw his shadow disappear down the stairwell, she pulled herself into a sitting position beside Clu and rested the gun on her lap. She reached out and ran her free hand through his hair.

"Please be okay," she prayed. She stroked his cheek, recalling that the same tan he displayed now was the same thing that caught her eye those years back.

She hadn't seen him since she moved to Seattle, she recalled. She hadn't expected him to look so different when they finally reunited for Thanksgiving that year. His skin was bronze and his hair had gotten lighter from the California sun, making him resemble his brother, Fi's first crush, much more than he used to. But it was more than his good looks that drew her to him; He seemed to glow, and his aura radiated the sort of love for life that Fi had been hoping to rediscover for such a long time.

That was the image of him that stuck in her mind, and the reason why she had made time for them to sneak away from the crowd on her birthday the following February, as well as her motivation for making the hour-long drive from Stanford to his house as many times as she had.

Fi suddenly remembered what the demon told her and wondered if everything it said had been a lie. She never considered the possibility of her and Clu in the past, and of course now she realized it would be impossible to be with anyone, but the idea of what could have been was providing a strange sort of comfort in this grim moment.

"Fi?"

She emerged from her thoughts at the sound of Clu's voice.

"I'm here. I'm right here," she answered, her hand still in his hair.

"Why… What happened?"

"Just stay still."

Clu suddenly winced and grabbed the spot on his shoulder where he'd been shot.

"Quit moving," Fi said gently. "It's going to be okay."

"What happened?" he repeated under his breath.

"Long story."

"Got. Time."

"You, uh, you got yourself possessed on our way out of this place," she offered with a soft laugh.

"On our, what? We haven't spoken in… years."

"No. Well, yeah, before today, but... How hard did Jack hit your head?"

"Fi, why are you here, in Santa Cruz?"

Fi's eyes began to cloud as she registered his reaction.

"That- it wasn't you," she stuttered. "The entire time I was here? It was that thing pretending to be…"

"Fi, you're scaring me. What happened here? What happened to your face?" he demanded between gasps.

"It said you were awake in there. It said you could hear everything."

"_Who_?"

"The demon," Fi whispered, feeling a tear teeter over her eyelid.

"Demon? Fi, there's no such thing."

"Of course there is. Clu, you really don't remember any of it?"

"We used to pretend. When we were kids. We used to act like… it was all real but… it was just our imagination," he said weakly.

"No. No, it wasn't," Fi wept. "Why are you saying this?"

"What are you doing here?" he repeated, his eyes closing. "After all this time?"

Fi couldn't catch her breath. She retracted her hand from Clu and tucked her knees into her chest.

"How's he doing?" Jack broke in.

"He was awake for a minute," she explained, keeping her head down so her brother couldn't see her cry. "He just passed back out from the pain, but otherwise he's fine…"

"Good. Let's get going… Fiona? What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly very concerned.

"It's nothing," she lied, wiping her face with the backs of both hands. Her bruises were already sore to the touch.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Jack reassured her, putting an arm over her shoulders. "He's going to be fine."

"That's not it, Jack. I shouldn't have come here."

"Well, why did you?"

"I got a call. It was mom's voice."

"Mom?" he echoed, surprised.

"Not really. Just her voice, telling me to come to Santa Cruz. Said she needed my help."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"It said if you came with me, you'd die."

Jack let his palms fall off his face and let out a sigh of frustration.

"I got a call too. Same type of thing - Mom's voice, telling me to get here as fast as I could because you were hurt, needed my help. The whole thing must have been a setup."

"Jack, it knew exactly what to say to separate us," Fi continued. "God, I really thought Mom needed me. How could I be so stupid?"

"Come here," he said, letting her press her head into his chest. "Sh, Sis. It's okay. Anyone would have done the same. What people will do for someone they love... Remember when were we kids? That camping trip where you got yourself lost in the woods? We looked everywhere. God, I was so scared. And even though I didn't want to believe any of your weird stories back then, I caved and tried to- I can't believe I'm admitting this - I tried _ESP_ just to get some sign that you were okay. It freaked me out just to try it. Ha, imagine what I felt like when it actually worked."

Jack paused and raised an eyebrow when he swore he heard Fi laugh, though it was muffled within his shirt.

"Hey, what's so funny?" he asked, raising her face.

"Don't worry about it," she giggled, her tears quickly drying.

"Fi, that was my first step into hunting. How is that funny?"

"_That_ was your first step into hunting?" she said, amused. "Jack, I think enough time has passed for me to admit this; I heard you tell me to leave a sign for Mom, not because of any sibling ESP, but because I was standing right behind you."

"You seriously let me believe I could communicate telepathically for a decade?" he laughed, playfully pushing her away. "No wonder it never worked again."

Fi flashed a quick smile, feeling far less guilty than before. She brushed herself off and helped Jack get Clu out of the warehouse and into the backseat of the Mustang.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: As always, thanks for reading :)  
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* * *

><p>"Were you planning on staying at the hospital with him?" she asked Jack once he began to drive, turning first to make sure Clu was still unconscious.<p>

"For a little bit, if that's alright with you."

Fi nodded. "Would you mind if I stay in the car once we get there?"

"Yeah, no problem. Feeling alright? Want to have yourself checked out too while we're there?"

"Nah, I'm okay. I just can't face him yet, conscious at least."

He nodded, letting her words sink in. Jack peeked over at her, studying her uneasy expression. There was more than guilt written on her face.

"I heard what that demon was saying you know."

"About what? It's all a blur to me at this point."

"Nothing, never mind. I'm sure he was spouting lies anyways."

"Kind of comes with the territory, huh?"

He shook the bad taste in his mouth and mustered a small smile.

"Actually, there was one thing I remember him saying that I meant to mention," Fi recalled.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"It's about Mom."

"Oh boy, here we go," Jack groaned and rolled his eyes.

"What?" Fi demanded.

"I thought I sensed one of your classic Mom-bashing sessions coming on."

"For your information, I just wanted to let you know she's been in Pagosa Springs. Colorado. Probably the _entire_ time we've been looking for her."

"The demon said that?"

Fi nodded in response.

"And you believe a demon? That lying, manipulative, son of a bitch?"

"It's the best lead we've gotten in a while, Jack."

Jack pinned his eyes to the road and pinched his bottom lip.

"Well, if it was telling the truth, I'm sure Mom has a good reason to be hiding from us."

He could feel Fi glaring at him from the passenger seat.

"What?" he asked, momentarily breaking eye contact from the passing pavement.

"You don't even hesitate to make an excuse for her. When are you going to admit that she's wrong?"

"Mom's not wrong, Fi."

"Are you kidding me? She's _been_ wrong. Everything she's done up until this very moment has been wrong. She's lied to us our entire lives, she kept us in the dark about her, about Dad, about what we were meant to be doing… How is any of that acceptable to you?"

"You're so quick to throw all of the blame on her."

"Because she deserves it, Jack."

"What do you think she should have done differently, huh? How's a parent supposed to tell their child about what's really out there?"

"She should have found a way. She should have been honest from day one. Instead of telling me not to be afraid of the thing in my closet she should have handed me a .45!"

"And imagine the damage that would have done to your psyche at nine years old."

"It doesn't matter! She should have raised us as _hunters_."

"She did the best thing for us."

"The best thing for us? She's lucky we turned out to be naturals at this or we'd be dead! There are other hunters out there, Jack. Other hunters with decades more experience who get killed on the job every day! We made it out today by the skin of our teeth. Maybe if we'd had more training-"

"Fi, will you listen to yourself? You're pissed at Mom for _protecting_ us. It was for our own good! Don't get me wrong, I regret not having more experience under my belt, but at least we got to be kids! We got to be a typical family, for the most part. We had a home to go back to when the tour was over. Do you honestly believe we'd have had any of that if we were raised hunting? I don't think so. Mom hid everything - as bad as she may have wanted to tell us - just so we could be normal!"

"I never got to be normal, Jack! I was a freak! And she let me believe for years, for _years_, that I was facing all this paranormal stuff all on my own."

"It was for your own good. She let you discover the truth at your own pace so it wouldn't drive you insane!"

"Yeah, instead it drove me away! I separated myself from you, from Mom, because you two made it seem like I was making you miserable."

"Oh, now it's my fault too? Because you were throwing theories at me that I didn't want to hear? That's crap and you know it, Fiona. I would sit there and listen to every crazy story you ever pitched, and no matter how completely off the deep end I thought you'd gone, I was always there for you. You're the one who left! You're the one who ran away, not me. So go shove your angsty, P.M.S. bullshit down someone else's throat because I'm done!"

The siblings sat in silence for the remainder of the car ride. It wasn't until they pulled into the hospital that a grainy melody came from the back seat and cut through the tension.

"His phone's ringing," Fi stated coldly, reaching to retrieve it. She glanced at the caller ID forgetting that the screen had been smashed, and passed it to her brother.

"Hello? Calm down, it's Jack. What's going on, man?" he asked, sitting up straight.

"Jack? Where's my brother? It's important," the voice insisted in a tone slightly higher than usual.

"Sleeping," he answered, looking into the review mirror. "I'll get him the message when he wakes up."

"No time."

"What's so urgent, Carey? Need to post bail or something?"

Fi's focus snapped to the phone, and Jack mouthed, "kidding," at her. She rolled her eyes and repressed a sigh of relief.

Jack's brow knotted as Carey elaborated. His eyes got wide.

"What is it?" Fi hissed, studying his reaction.

"Not kidding," he whispered.

"What! Give me the phone!" she insisted from behind her hand.

Jack switched ears to get it out of Fi's reach. "I'll wire you the money. Yes. Yes, we- I'm on my way."

Fi stared at him, bug-eyed and awaiting an explanation, as he ended the call and tossed the phone into the back seat.

"Carey found Mom."

"Where?"

"In uh, Pagosa Springs, Colorado."

"Huh, guess demons do tell the truth sometimes. So, what the hell happened?"

"Well, first let's get Sleeping Beauty here into the hospital, then we'll get our asses back over to Colorado and find out."

"How are we going to get Carey that money? I used up most of our funds on the bus ticket."

Jack smirked.

"Jack, you're not going to take it from Clu, are you? Don't you think he's been through enough today?"

"I don't know. From that look on your face earlier, I think he might owe me."

Fi paled as Jack glared at Clu through the rearview mirror and stepped out of the car.

"Next time I see this boy conscious," he said, taking hold of Clu under his arms, "I'd say Lucy's got some splainin' to do."


End file.
